Family Tour with Panda Encounter

17 days  |  16 nights
Tour Type PrivateThis is a private tour, allowing you to follow our tour itinerary. Select your own travel dates to suit your personal group of family or friends.          
Destinations Beijing , Xi'an , Chengdu , Guilin , Shanghai
Tour Code CFT02
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What customers say about us?

  • Richard and Sylvia
    British

    After looking at trip advisor, we picked 3 China based travel agencies who we thought might be able to plan a tour of the area around Beijing. One agency suggested factory tours from the outset whilst another was fairly insistent that we travel overnight by train, but Monica proved to be thoughtful and flexible.
    We have friends in Beijing and so started and ended our trip with them.
    She suggested a day trip to the Great Wall from Beijing plus a tour of Pingyao, Xi'an and Luoyang with 3 bullet train journeys and one plane flight.
    We decided not to go with a couple of her suggestions, but she was comfortable with that and re-jigged the trips to suit.
    The actual guides provided are generally contractors who can work for several agencies depending on the work available. But the choice of which guides to employ still falls on the travel agency (and availability).

    We were also very happy with our guides "Nelson" in Pingyao/Taiyuan, "Grace" in Xi'an and "Frank" in Luoyang as well as the drivers. They all turned up flawlessly on time for every appointment, helped us order lunch and always seemed happy.

    There appear to be one or two 'scams' running with guides taking commission on purchases made. But having ordered an evening dance show + meal at our hotel "Grand New World" our guide in Xi'an certainly earned what ever commission she got by making sure that my meal contained no sugar or MSG/Soy Sauce.

    Chinese drivers seem to learn to all drive at the Kamikaze school of motoring, but the drivers in Pingyao, Xi'an and Luoyang (Frank did his own driving) (also contracted but independently of the guides) did a good job of not frightening us too much.

    Chinese cyclists and motor cyclists don't even follow the correct direction of flow and often drive on the wrong side of the road. Chinese drivers hoot constantly if they want to overtake and can't quite squeeze by!

    Coffee in China generally doesn't seem very good (apart from at the large American chains).

    The Tian yuan kui hostel in Pingyao is an interesting mixture of traditional and modern. The staff were extremely lovely and the food was tasty. The hundreds of recommendations on A3 sheets on the wall in English, French, Italian, Spanish and other languages were also testament to that.

    The Grand New World hotel in Xi'an was a slice of America transported to China. Service was slightly variable. E.g. I had to go to 3 receptionists in order to find the one who was allowed to do checkouts. English from staff was variable though usually adequate.

    The Peony Hotel in Luoyang was also like a slice of America. Our safe would not work as it had no batteries in it. We struggled with language problems for about half an hour to get 4 new batteries to fit into it and then to get the Chinese maintenance lady to fit them right way round.

    The manager agreed a special picnic lunch for our train journey, but I ended up having to explain to francophone Chinese tour guide in French what we needed! But I guess episodes like this make a tour more interesting.

    Many thanks to Monica for arranging this memorable holiday.

    Date of experience: 01/09/2017-13/09/2017
  • Jenny and Bevan
    Australia

    We had an amazing trip, thank you so much for all your hard work in putting together our itinerary. All the guides were wonderful and their knowledge was incredible. They could not do enough for us and were always punctual, polite and fun.The hotels were very well chosen, great locations, rooms were beautiful and food was abundant.

    We even had an upgrade on arrival in Bejing which was a lovely way to start our holiday.  By the time Peter had finished with us in Bejing, I think I knew all there was to know about the Emperors and Dynasties. What would have helped would have been a “Time Line” brochure, so we could refer to which period was being talked about and where each Emperor fit in as there was so much to remember. Although we had a very full itinerary, I would have liked to see the Silk Road Markets in Bejing, I hear they are very interesting.The terracotta Soldiers in Xien were far more impressive than I had thought they would be. Grace was such a lovely Guide and obviously very proud of her job and what she has to show her guests.While we were in Guilin Amber suggested we take the chair lift to the top of a mountain and view Guilin from there.  I am so glad we did, it was amazing.

    Bevan came back down on the chairlift and I decided to take the louge with Amber, it was so much fun, even for someone my age (54).As we were a little early for the acrobatic show in Shanghai, Colin very kindly took us to a wonderful shopping precinct close by to the theatre, this was very much appreciated and I believe should be added to the itinerary. Colin also suggested we take the night cruise which we loved, Shangahi is so beautiful at night and what a great way to see it. The “Mag Lev” train to the airport was fantastic, my husband had always wanted to do this and was not disappointed, I think this should be offered as an extra when selling Shanghai.

    All our drivers were fantastic. We felt safe at all times even though the traffic in China was very different to what we are used to. The only thing that would
    have been nice was to return to a cool vehicle, although this was not always possible I am sure.

    The only thing that I was sometimes disappointed with was the choice of lunch venues. We chose your company because it was for small groups or in our case, only two people, and in some places we were in large dining rooms with large groups of tourists. I am sure these places are chosen for their locations and the food which was served which was wonderful.
     
    We had a most wonderful holiday and I will most certainly recommend China Expedition Tours to everyone.  I do hope we can visit China again very soon.
     
    Kindest regards
    Jenny and Bevan 

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    Date of experience: 19/08/2017-03/09/2017
  • Daniel Prohaska
    USA

    I traveled to China with a college group in January as part of a Winter Term course at my school. I would not know where to begin planning a trip to a country as diverse as China, but our itinerary put together by Alex Guan was superb! We went to six major cities and we had a genuine cultural experience. We got to see everything from the Great Wall in Beijing to the Li River in Guilin and everything in between!
    A particular highlight of the trip was that China Expedition Tours took our group to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall - this section of the Great Wall is very well preserved and is much less crowded with tourists. Most other tour groups would have taken us to another section of the Wall which would have been more crowded. The little things like this detail of our trip made our experience with China Expedition Tours exceptionally good.
    Alex stayed with our group throughout our trip as a national guide. Everywhere we went we got an exciting history of attractions we visited and we had local guides with impeccable knowledge of their cities. Alex and our local guides did an amazing job of keeping our group on schedule so we got the most out of our trip and made every location a unique experience. Everyone at China Expedition Tours cared deeply about our enjoyment of the trip and went above and beyond what we would have expected from any tour group.
    More than just giving us an incredible trip, we made lasting friendships with the people at China Expedition Tours that I know I will be back to visit in the future. I would not trust anyone else in China with planning a future trip!

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    Date of experience: 06/01/2017-21/01/2017
  • Sarah & Gary
    the U.S

    Guilin is a perfect destination for a great time with my family. Nice van, perfect boat and friendly guide. We did enjoy our stay in Guilin with CET.

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    Date of experience: 29/03/2018-31/03/2018
  • Aurelia e Mario Bignami
    Italy

    Dear Mrs. Chanel,

    We were really pleased with the whole trip that You organised for us.

    All aspects were studied very well and we had the opportunity to see beautiful landscapes and to know and love China. All the guides were good and prepared; we remember with special affection Nancy that we had in Shangri-la and who really loved us.

    Nancy anticipated of one day the visit to the Jade Mountain Snow and in this way we could see the spectacle of minorities that will not forget for life.

    The visits to Guillin were exceptional and Lizzie was really good at explaining. The rice fields of Longji were an exciting experience because they are the demonstration of the secular ability of the Chinese people to adapt to the environment even in the most difficult areas.

    The dinner at Your house was a demonstration of friendship that we will not forget and we wish you every luck for your Husband and for Your very good and polite daughter.

    Shanghai was amazing and Luisa guided us with great advice in a huge but extraordinarily friendly and organized city.

    My wife who speaks very little English has always found herself at ease; all the accommodations we tried were well above European standards and especially made us appreciate the China of small villages and ordinary people.

    We gave Your references to all our friends and our 3 daughters encouraging everyone to live this experience because in fact we know little here in Europe of the reality of this great country and only through direct experience is possible to understand a civilisation that thousands of years of history and much to teach us.

    We hope to come again and visit the center and north of China that surely reserve us new reasons for wonder and joy.

    Dear Mrs Chanel,

    Still many thanks for everything You have done for us.

    Aurelia e Mario Bignami

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    Date of experience: 01/11/2024-14/11/2024
  • Derik
    Sweden

    It was all so wonderful - and the home stays were the best!! What an amazing opportunity that was for us to get a more real experience of being in China. If I were younger I would want to learn Chinese and go live there for a year or so. As I age I feel a strong sense of wanting to know what the world really is and will be like when I'm gone. I want to feel that there's good hope for understanding and peace in the world --- --- and I so felt that among the people we met there. How could all those hardworking, intelligent and kind folks, who are striving to do their best and who care so much about their children, put up with anything but the best of opportunities? I'm not worried for two generations from now, and maybe only one. 

    The sheer bigness of buildings and squares and traffic and crowds was impressive to me especially too, in the ways that somehow it all appeared to be working in usually peaceful and often exciting ways. 

    And of course the cutting edge of things is always exciting to experience - Shanghai being especially great for that. Besides the variety and creativity in the tall buildings and the amazing Shanghai Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art there was mind-blowing to me. With a beautiful exhibit of art by emerging young artists, the works were often both quite delicate and also wrenching - most stimulating! I wondered if there was much censorship and if it didn't somehow make for greater discipline and help to create art that was more deeply meaningful.... and of course with the rich history of art you all have under your skin somewhere...I haven't been moved so much by an art exhibition in a long time. 

    Date of experience: 20/05/2012-06/06/2012

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